Lewis Hamilton: “I Tried My Best Out There”

Lewis Hamilton said he gave his all trying to chase down the Scuderia Ferrari‘s at today’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton started the race in fourth place at the Hungaroring but lost out in the start to Red Bull Racing‘s Max Verstappen. Hamilton struggled to pass Verstappen but played it safe when the Dutchman was rewarded a penalty for colliding with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 2 on the first lap.

The Brit struggled with radio communications throughout the race but manage to regain contact with the pit wall in the later half of the race.

Midway through the British driver was allowed by Mercedes AMG Petronas to challenge the Ferrari’s for victory, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas instructed to make way for Hamilton in order to make a charge.

However, the three-time world champion failed to make any attack on Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton promised to handed back third place to Bottas if he failed to pass Raikkonen. On the last lap at the final corner, Hamilton allowed Bottas through for the podium place, collecting fourth place for himself.

“I tried my best out there. It’s tough when you push so hard and you work so hard and you end up in the same place that you started.” commented Hamilton.

“When the radio didn’t work, I was thinking that the team was worried about the tyres not going the distance. So maybe they were going slow so that they could speed up later.

“I was pushing and I had all this pace, but I was stuck behind Valtteri and I couldn’t tell the team because of the radio. But in the final laps, I kept my word. I said that if I couldn’t pass Kimi then I would let Valtteri back.”

Hamilton is now fourteen points away from Championship leader Sebastian Vettel with nine race to go but the Brit believes he did the right thing in allowing Bottas pass on the last corner, even if it could decide the faith of the world championship.

“I have said through this year that I want to win this title in the right way – and perhaps I will look at it in a different way if, at the end of the season, I lose out by a small margin – but I believe in doing the right thing and that when you put good things out there, they come back to you.

“I was 20 points behind before, but down to one, and now back to 14. We have lost quite a few points in the first half of the year – but I know that we can win it, once we come back even better after the summer break.”